1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the field of arrangements for guiding or piloting projectiles or missiles (self-propelled and non-self-propelled), and relates to a method and associated device for guiding a projectile such as, for example, a shell, a bullet, or a missile.
2. Description of Related Art
Guidance of a projectile flying through the thermosphere, i.e. practically in vacuum, can be effected with a plasma thruster as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,259.
Guidance of a projectile flying through the atmosphere, e.g., the troposphere, can be effected for example by deploying airfoils or by the operation of a pyrotechnic device.
The main drawback of airfoils resides in their deployment, which involves considerable forces proportional to the velocity of the projectile and due to its resistance to very high pressures encountered at supersonic speeds. Moreover, this type of guidance requires a lengthy reaction time which may be a major drawback if the projectile is spin-stabilized and which hampers its maneuverability.
For a flying projectile, the main drawback of guidance by operation of a pyrotechnic device is that it can operate only once.
The prior art aimed at overcoming these drawbacks is disclosed in French Patent Application FR0212906 which describes a method of deflecting, in a direction Y, a hypervelocity projectile such as a shell, a bullet, or a missile, having a nose, generally cone-shaped, with a more or less pointed tip, characterized by effecting a plasma discharge over a limited sector of the outer surface of the nose in direction Y.